


Lawful Chaotic

by acciomerlin



Series: Rule of Law [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:02:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25148146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acciomerlin/pseuds/acciomerlin
Summary: Arthur should have known better than to make deals with absolute strangers because he could only stare in mounting horror as the boy poured a can of energy drink into his coffee like it was the most normal thing in the world.He shrugged and said "Cheers then,” before draining the whole mug in one go.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: Rule of Law [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1828867
Comments: 31
Kudos: 651





	Lawful Chaotic

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this](https://melodyrae14.tumblr.com/post/98444924690/korrakun-my-favorite-college-experience-is-when) tumblr post!
> 
> Disclaimer: Please DO NOT try mixing energy drinks with coffee, it could be potentially dangerous. I've just used it for fictitious and humour purposes.

Arthur couldn't believe this but he was in class. At 7 AM. AM as in the morning. He was fully dressed in a classroom at seven in the morning. He was not in his bed. He was in a classroom. At 7 AM.

It still wasn't registering as something that was actually happening to him.

In his humble opinion, it should be illegal to conduct lectures before 9 AM minimum. Was there a petition he could sign for lawful action that barred classes before 10 AM? He was sure it was some kind of human rights violation to call on innocent students before 11 AM.

Not that Dr. Kilgharrah would care. Arthur had serious doubts about his humanity. There was something feral and evil in his yellowish brown eyes that disturbed Arthur. And he acted like the devil incarnate too, like conducting classes at seven in the morning and forcing students to attend by resorting to threats via deceptively pleasant emails. It was a craft.

Yes, it had been torture to wake up at six o'clock (SIX!!!) to make it to the lecture on time but it had been even worse to watch Gwaine, his roommate, snore on their sofa on his way out. Arthur had nearly pushed him off in spite.

The thing was that Arthur didn't even really want to be here. He'd only signed up for Environmental Law because his father had insisted upon it and said it would prove useful when one of those pesky NGOs inevitably tried to sue their clients. Taking pity on him, Gwen had promised to give him company but –

He scanned the classroom and – _really_? She wasn't even here! He glowered darkly. She’d ditched him and was probably cuddling with Lance wherever they shacked up these days. Arthur should have never let Lance break up with him two years ago, if only to deny Gwen the pleasure of sleeping in with her boyfriend while Arthur languished in this prison, decidedly boyfriend-less. It was most unjust.

Arthur rubbed at his eyes again in an attempt to make them work at full functionality instead of whatever blurry hell this was and willed his feet to walk and find a bloody seat.

As he was walking past a row, a hand suddenly shot out to grab his arm and he started with a surprised gasp, his heart nearly giving out.

He looked down to see a bloke in an oversized hoodie and messy black hair looking at him with large doe eyes.

"What the hell?!" Arthur exclaimed heatedly, taking his arm out of the boy's grip forcefully.

The boy grimaced and put up his hands. "Sorry, sorry I'm half-asleep. I just –I need some help. Can you open this?" He gestured to a can of Monster Energy on his desk. Arthur raised his eyebrows. Why did he need an energy drink? There was already a travel mug filled with steaming coffee on the table and _dammit_ , Arthur felt even more cranky because he desperately needed a caffeine fix too.

The bloke followed his gaze and piped up, "I'll share it if you help."

Maybe it was because Arthur's brain was only working at 2% but that sounded like a good offer.

Arthur mutely dropped his bag on the empty seat beside the boy, snatched the energy drink can from his hands and opened it with a practised twist of his fingers. It had been a bit bent and lodged but if there was one thing Arthur had unwillingly learned from Gwaine, it was how to open just about any bottle or can in the world.

The boy looked very impressed though and grinned brightly at him. It transformed his entire face into something heart-stoppingly gorgeous and Arthur vaguely registered his brain's level of functioning dropping down to 1% at the sight.

He really needed that coffee.

However, he should have known better than to make deals with absolute strangers because he could only stare in mounting horror as the boy _poured the energy drink into the coffee_ as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

He casually thrust the mug towards Arthur like he hadn't just committed a crime against humanity and said, "Here, as promised. Oh and I'm Merlin, by the way."

Of course this ridiculous (-ly beautiful) boy would have a ridiculous name. Arthur shouldn't even be surprised.

"Arthur," he mumbled in response and didn't acknowledge Merlin's outstretched hand as he took his seat beside him.

Merlin, undeterred, continued looking at him expectantly.

Arthur took the mug from him and placed it on Merlin's side of the desk. "No, thanks," he said, shooting Merlin a strange look.

Merlin frowned. “Why not?”

Arthur blinked.

Did he sound genuinely hurt that Arthur wasn't willing to ingest something that would likely poison him? _Really?_ Was Merlin an assassin sent by Morgana to finally take Arthur out? Where had she found him? Where could he get one too?

Arthur opened his mouth to answer but that's when Dr. Kilgharrah strode into the room in all his eerie glory and demanded their attention right away.

Merlin shrugged and said "Cheers then,” before draining the whole mug in one go.

Arthur could scarcely believe his eyes, but Merlin wasn’t even looking at him anymore. He was paying rapt attention to whatever Kilgharrah was droning on about and acting like Arthur was just supposed to deal with whatever had transpired in the last ten minutes.

It was safe to say that Arthur’s first Environmental Law lecture was much more interesting than he’d been expecting.

* * *

The next time Arthur attended the lecture, he got there five minutes early to snag an empty seat for himself so he didn’t have to resort to sitting with peculiar elven boys.

However, that didn’t stop peculiar elven boys from sitting with him because as soon as Merlin entered the class, he went straight for the empty spot beside Arthur that he’d vaguely been saving for Gwen, as if their surreal encounter from three days ago somehow meant they were now friends. Or close enough acquaintances to sit with each other for a one hour lecture.

Arthur didn’t even know his last name!

Merlin hesitated before sitting down and turned to look at Arthur with those huge blue eyes that seemed to swallow him whole. “Is this spot taken?” he asked somewhat shyly.

 _Yes,_ was what Arthur wanted to say.

What came out was, “No.”

Arthur cursed inwardly. Gwen was going to kill him.

Merlin flashed him a quick smile and made himself at home, rummaging in his bag as he looked for something.

He didn’t have coffee or energy drink with this time, just a bottle of water and Arthur consoled himself that maybe what had happened last time was just a one-time thing and the prettiest boy in the class wasn’t completely deranged.

Arthur swallowed nervously when Gwen entered the classroom, laughing at something Sefa was saying. She bid her goodbye when she spotted Arthur and walked towards him, pausing when she noticed Merlin beside him.

Merlin detected her presence and looked up from his bag with an easy grin. “Oh, hi Gwen.”

“Hi, Merlin,” she responded, far too brightly for _seven_ in the morning. “I didn’t know you knew Arthur.”

“I don’t,” Merlin answered, briefly glancing at Arthur. “Not much anyway. Sorry, do you want to sit here?”

Gwen raised an eyebrow at Arthur and that simple gesture held so many meanings that Arthur felt himself blush for no discernible reason.

Gwen smirked and turned back to Merlin. “No, it’s okay. I think Sefa has saved a seat for me in the back. You two carry on.”

With that, she left Arthur to his own devices and he just _knew_ there was a long, completely unnecessary conversation about Merlin in his future.

Thankfully, Arthur was able to pay at least some attention to the class this time and was surprised to discover that Merlin was well-spoken and extremely passionate about the subject. He deeply cared about the environment and loathed big corporations that posed a threat to it. His fervour even succeeded in making Arthur feel a bit guilty about his Commercial Law major –which was silly because he hardly knew Merlin and his opinion certainly shouldn’t matter to him.

Moreover, Merlin was also clearly Kilgharrah’s favourite student and it was something the teacher didn’t even try to hide from the rest of them. Arthur couldn’t blame him.

Merlin was kind of brilliant.

* * *

Arthur’s thinking had been wishful because the vile coffee and energy drink combo made a reappearance in the next three classes and Merlin tried to get Arthur to taste it every single time. He laughed with some kind of perverted glee whenever Arthur made a horrified face at his insistence.

To his credit, he had started to bring Arthur a separate mug of coffee completely unprompted and Arthur could overlook most about anything for that. He was sure the warmth in his chest was just because of the hot beverage, no other reason.

They casually exchanged numbers by the sixth lecture and Arthur couldn’t keep an idiotic smile off his face when his hand brushed Merlin’s as he passed him his phone.

Merlin whistled when he got a look at the sleek smartphone. “This couldn’t have been cheap.”

Arthur shrugged vaguely. “I guess so.”

Merlin paused and then looked at him through furrowed eyebrows. “You’re rich, aren’t you?” he accused.

Arthur flushed despite himself. It wasn’t his fault he was. “Err –kind of.”

Merlin was regarding him with way more suspicion than the situation warranted. “What’s your last name?”

Arthur didn’t want to answer that. He wasn’t ashamed of his family or upbringing and actually quite liked his inheritance but he knew that Merlin was going to make a deal out of it, and not in a good way.

“What’s _your_ last name?” he countered lamely.

“Emrys,” Merlin answered dismissively. “Now yours.”

Arthur sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. “Pendragon.”

A beat passed.

Merlin was gaping at him for long moments and Arthur was starting to get a little concerned.

Then he burst out loudly, "You're Arthur _Pendragon_? You're _Uther Pendragon's_ son? Of _Pendragon & Gorlois_? One of the biggest commercial law firms in the country?"

Arthur had the distinct impression from Merlin's outrage that he was supposed to be ashamed by this. "Yes."

" _Ugh_ ," Merlin groaned and looked at him like he was the world's ugliest slug. "This constitutes as fraternising with the enemy, I shouldn’t be talking to you."

Arthur rolled his eyes and grinned, ruffling Merlin’s hair for good measure. "And yet you are. Where's my coffee?"

"Buy it yourself," Merlin bit out with an insolent glare and then muttered to himself, "I can't _believe_ I'm going to sleep with _Uther Pendragon's_ son."

Arthur blinked, thoroughly taken aback. He surely hadn't heard that right.

"What?” Arthur asked incredulously.

Merlin looked like the very picture of innocence. "What?"

"What did you say?"

"Nothing, just asked you to buy your coffee yourself. Since you're basically a billionaire," Merlin mocked, saying ‘billionaire’ the same way other people might say ‘criminal’. 

Arthur’s head reeled. "Merlin –”

Merlin straightened up and turned his head towards the front of the class. "Oh, look. Class is starting. Do pay attention, Arthur.”

* * *

Merlin, to Arthur's slight frustration, didn't sleep with him and instead was making him question his own sanity, since Arthur was becoming increasingly convinced that he'd just hallucinated the whole exchange.

They texted all the time, bickered outside of class, even had lunch together a few times and Arthur got the strangest urge to hold Merlin’s hand whenever they walked together in the corridor.

Arthur was simultaneously worried and delighted.

It was one of those days Merlin had decided to make his atrocious drink, and was sipping it loudly.

Arthur was looking at him with mild disgust. "How are you still alive?" he wondered aloud.

Merlin shrugged, not the least bit bothered. "Unclear but I've never felt more awake and well-rested."

"The dark circles under your eyes tell otherwise," Arthur pointed out.

Merlin shot him a cheeky grin. "Modern problems require modern solutions, my friend," he said and smacked his lips, which he really shouldn’t have done because now Arthur couldn’t stop staring at them.

 _Don’t let it deceive you. The wetness of his mouth is literally due to a concoction of coffee and energy drink. It’s revolting,_ he reminded himself, but his strung up body refused to relax.

Merlin wasn’t fooled. “Either stop staring at me or just try the damn thing already.”

Arthur wrinkled his nose and crossed his arms in protest. "It's the devil's beverage, Merlin."

"Good,” Merlin said sarcastically. “Then you should have no problem with it since you're about to sell your soul to the devil."

Arthur sighed exasperatedly. "For the last time, commercial law isn't evil."

"It is. You're going to be immorally rich."

"I'm already rich."

"That's even worse! Don’t you see?" Merlin cried, throwing up his hands.

"Merlin –”

Merlin ranted on, "Because you’re not even doing it for money, you're just doing it to help evil multinational corporations exploit others and–”

"That's not the reason!” Arthur insisted, feeling defensive. “It’s expected of me. You don't know my father –”

Merlin snorted. "Right. Your father."

"Come on, Merlin," Arthur pleaded.

Merlin held his ground for a few more seconds, before he exhaled tiredly and rolled his eyes. 

"No wonder you won't try my drink. You're a coward," Merlin grumbled, shuffling closer to Arthur, a sure sign that he’d let it go for now.

Arthur smiled and squeezed Merlin’s hand under the table.

* * *

Arthur had been enjoying the lecture content from the very beginning but from the next class, Arthur actually started taking the subject seriously and not just as something his father had forced him to endure for a semester.

Merlin noticed. _Of course Merlin noticed._ And teased him mercilessly about it.

"There might be hope for you yet, Arthur Pendragon,” he cooed gleefully, slinging an arm around Arthur’s shoulder and nearly _glowing_ with happiness.

"Don't hold your breath," Arthur mumbled darkly, even as he knew that Merlin was right. His mind _was_ changing. He couldn’t, in good conscience, spend his entire life in commercial law defending corrupt millionaires intent on serving their own selfish needs. It would eat him up inside and he would end up hating himself.

Merlin laughed. "I can't _wait_ to see what your father will have to say when he sees his son switching to environmental law."

"God, you are incorrigible,” Arthur complained. “Drink your abomination and leave me alone."

Merlin cocked his head to the side and bit his lip in amusement. “You didn’t deny it.”

“I swear to _god_ , Merlin –”

Merlin held up his hands in surrender, looking not even a little bit chastised. “Alright, alright. No more talk about Daddy Pendragon.”

Arthur was so close to tears. “Don’t _ever_ call him that.”

Arthur would have to remember not to introduce Merlin and Gwaine to each other, since the latter was still on a quest to convince Uther to be his sugar daddy.

Arthur hated his friends. But maybe…maybe Merlin, not so much.

* * *

Arthur himself was buzzing with nervous, excited energy but Merlin simply couldn’t contain his joy when Arthur finally dropped commercial law. He was giddy and smiling wildly during the entire lecture after Arthur told him the news, his abhorrent drink lying forgotten on the desk.

Merlin finally noticed it after Kilgharrah dismissed them and drank it all in one go, his mouth glistening obscenely afterwards.

Arthur made another life-changing decision.

Merlin's ardent wish to get Arthur to try Satan's ambrosia was fulfilled that very same morning when Arthur decided to taste it on Merlin's lips by pulling him aside after class and kissing him against the wall.

The taste of the drink, as he'd expected, was terrible. Merlin's lips, on the other hand, were quite the opposite.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Aah my first modern Merthur AU was inevitable but I didn't expect it to be this. I'm not a law student so please do not come for me if there are inaccuracies :( This was written on a whim and is not terribly well-thought out but I hope it's enjoyable nonetheless! 
> 
> I might write a sequel to this because the idea of Uther meeting Arthur's environmental lawyer boyfriend Merlin is almost irresistible hehe ;)
> 
> Find me on [tumblr](https://acciomeriin.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> Thank you for reading! Till next time.


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